2012 December – Bridge World News

England – The Netherlands won the 2012 Junior and Girls Channel Trophy. The Yougsters Trophy went to England. The Channel Trophy is a youth tournament open to teams from across the Channel: England, France, Netherlands and Belgium. The event takes place every year on the weekend before Christmas. The 2012 edition was hosted by England and was held at Rosebery Hall in London.

Wales – The 2013 home internationals for the Camrose Trophy get underway in Northern Ireland on 4-6 January. The Welsh team for this first weekend is Peter Goodman & Mike Pownall, Filip Kurbalija & Patrick Shields, Gary Jones & Tim Rees with NPC Alan Stephenson and reserves Laura Woodruff & Mike Close. The Camrose Trophy is the Home International Series of bridge which is contested annually by England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. The competition is held over two weekends.

Scotland – The Scottish Senior Team for World Championships in Bali (September 2013) is announced as Derek Diamond & Victor Silverstone, John Murdoch & Iain Sime, Willie Coyle & Gerald Haase with NPC Harry Smith. This is the first time that Scotland will partecipate in World Championships. Also the team for the Senior Camrose in Wales on 17-19 May 2013 was annunced: Alan Goodman & Brian Short, Irving Gordon & Danny Kane, Liz McGowan & David Liggat with NPC Anne Symons.

Argentina – Walter Fornasari and Wasquez Mansilla won the Cup Razumney 2012. Second place to Silvina Rocca and Carlos Pellegrini, third to Maria Cecilia Pailhe and Roberto Vigil. The event was held the 12th and 13rd of December during the International Bridge Festival of Mar del Plata.

England – The Hackett team (Paul Hackett, David Mossop, John Holland, Gunnar Hallberg, David Price and Colin Simpson) were the winners of the Seniors Camrose Trials. They’ll represent England at the Seniors Camrose in Cardiff in May. The Camrose Trophy is the first one of the “Home International Series”, also called “Camrose Series” from the name of it’s most famous tourney. The Home Series are reserved to the five nations of the United Kingdom: England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland of Great Britain, and Northern Ireland.

China – Bauke Muller and Simon de Wijs from The Netherlands took the gold in the men’s pairs at the 2nd SportAccord World Mind Games in Beijing. Bertheau-Cullin from Sweden and Fu Zhong Miao Shi from China finished ex aequo at second place. Sun Ming and Hongli Wang from China won gold in the women’s pairs event. France grabbed second and second place with Cronier-Willard (silver) and Allouche-Reess (bronze).

USA – Benedicte Cronier and Sylvie Willard from France have been named co-recipients of the 2013 Sidney H. Lazard Jr. Sportsmanship award. This is the first time that the award has ever been given to a pair. The award was established by Sidney Lazard in honor of his son, Sidney Jr., who died in 1999 after a year-long battle with cancer at the age of 41. This award is limited to top players and it is given to those who win with class and dignity.

Great Britain – Team Allfrey (Alexander Allfrey-Andrew Robson, David Gold-Tony Forrester, Peter Crouch-Derek Patterson) has won the 2012 Gold Cup, the most prestigious British Knock Out Teams of Four Championship. With his victory Tony Forrester equalled the record of the legendary Boris Schapiro. Both players won the Cup for the 11th time.

China – Dutch World Champion Sjoert Brink is the Bridge Ambassador for the SportAccord World Mind Games. He will participate in various activities during the days of competitions and promote the event and mind games to the public in general. Live Coverage of the SportAccord World Mind Games being held in Beijing from 12 – 19 December 2012 will be available on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/mindgameschannel) and on the official event website (www.worldmindgames.net).

USA – USBF Sponsorship opportunities. The USBF is accepting proposals from individuals or companies interested in having the name or memory of a loved one or other deserving person associated with one or more of the three annual United States Bridge Championships – Open, Women’s and Seniors. USBCs determine participants in World Championships in the three competitions. Proposals should be sent to Barbara Nudelman at [email protected] .

South Africa – Team trials for the Open, Women and Senior South African Teams to represent South Africa at the African Zonal Championships in Reunion (and the World Championships in Bali if a team qualifies from the African Zone) will be held in Johannesburg between Thursday morning 31 January 2013 and Sunday evening 3 February 2013.

Wales – Colin Smith passed away. He was a major figure in Welsh bridge, representing Wales many times. The funeral will be in Newport on 18th December.

EBL –The 2013 European Open Championships will not be held in San Remo (Italy) as originally planned. The event most probably will took place in Ostend (Belgium) from 12 to 29 June 2013. This is the newest European competition. It was established in 2003 as a competition open to all players, including – for the first time – even non-Europeans. Transnational combinations are allowed, and there are no restrictive quotas for any nation.

USA – John Diamond and Brian Platnick won the Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs San Francisco Fall NABC. The Blue Ribbon Pairs is one of the most prestigious events on the NABC calendar. The event was introduced in 1963 and was renamed the Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs in 1999.

Israel – Eitan Levy, President of the Israel Bridge Federation, was honored with the EBL silver medal for his services to bridge over many decades.

Scotland – The Selection Committee announced that as a result of the recent trials, the Scottish team for the first Camrose weekend in Belfast on 4-6 Januar 2013 will be Sam Punch & Stephen Peterkin, John Matheson & Iain Sime and Alex Wilkinson & Phil Stephens – NPC Malcolm Cuthbertson.

Czech Republic – The inaugural Mind Sports Festival will take place from 1 December – 4 December, 2012 in Prague. There will be tournament prize pools in Bridge, Backgammon, Scrabble, RISK and even global eSport phenomenons League of Legends and Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The Prague Poker Festival will also take place at the same venue on these dates.

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The Neapolitan Club comes mainly from H. S. Vanderbilt ‘ s Strong Club (1926) and from the Culbertson System (1934). It employs sound openings and overcalling, and fully protected 3NT contract. As logical corollary for such sound system, it obeys the principle “first double”: it’s better to punish opponents instead of looking for our own game contract. Outiline »

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♣ Laura Cecilia Porro

Laura Cecilia started collaborating with Neapolitan Club in autumn 2011, she was our special correspondent from the European Championships in Dublin, where with Jan Van Cleeff she produced the Live Show broadcast by BTCC, the web tv co-produced by Neapolitan Club and NewInBridge (previously BridgeTopics.com). Laura Cecilia is also taking care of the Polish edition of our articles.

♣ Silvio Sbarigia’s Column

SILVIO SBARIGIA is a pharmacist; he was born in Rome and lives there. He has won the European championship in 1975 with legendary Blue Team, runner up at 1974’s and at Olympic games of 1976. Sbarigia is member of Neapolitan Club Technical Commettee. His bridge problems aren’t difficult; just we need to think on a plan and to avoid the instinctive playing. Open »